The original equity allocation among founders, ongoing employment at the company and the dilutive impact of venture capital are far bigger determinants of equity at IPO than current role. The chart above shows the broad spread of equity holdings by CEOs immediately before the IPO, as reported in each company’s S-1. They vary from 5% to 53%, an amazing range.

In what fraction of cases does the founding CEO remain at the company?

Of the cases I surveyed, all but one of the founding CEOs remained with the business. They typically became Chief Product Officer, Chief Technology Officer or Chairman of the Board.

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I’m happy to see that more than the majority of founders of these public companies have remained at the helm of their companies through IPO and beyond. I’m also thrilled that the dilutive impact to founders who hire someone else to lead their company is minimal. And the data shows both founder and non-founder CEOs can lead to huge outcomes (LinkedIn and Workday are the two most salient examples.)

I am a partner at Redpoint. I write daily, data-driven blog posts about key questions facing startups. I co-authored the book, Winning with Data. Join more than 20,000 others receiving these blog posts by email.